


that's how we keep going (we make the best of things)

by lieyuu



Series: a softer world [ i ship dream smp and happiness ] [3]
Category: Dream SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/F, Relationship Study, Sharing Clothes, Stargazing, no beta we die like mushroom :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieyuu/pseuds/lieyuu
Summary: [ i can’t decide if this is heaven or hell. the walls keep closing in and we’re running out of space, but you’re pretty cute ]“So, do you want to build a flower shop, a cottage, or a coffee shop?” Puffy asks, smiling like just Niki’s presence is enough to light up her world.Niki looks at her, thinks,I want to bend nature to my will and weave tapestries in your name,says, “I think I might like the flower shop best.”
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy/Niki | Nihachu
Series: a softer world [ i ship dream smp and happiness ] [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042497
Comments: 22
Kudos: 87





	that's how we keep going (we make the best of things)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [que_sera_sera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/que_sera_sera/gifts).



> teensy teensy bit rushed bc [len](https://archiveofourown.org/users/que_sera_sera/pseuds/que_sera_sera) in the discord said there were only 10 fics under the puffychu tag and that is a CRIME so i speedran this
> 
> ok i lied its super rushed anyways. niki character study!! not super coherent thoughts but i made them go!!
> 
> title taken from [this strip](https://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=238)
> 
> archive locked for a reason; do not send this fic to the content creators, recommend it to the content creators, or otherwise make them aware of it. thank you for respecting both my and their boundaries.

Niki is no newcomer to this land, but she wouldn’t call herself an old soul either. She arrived at an inopportune time, on the cusp of a war she understood no part of. Her allegiances were chosen for her long before she knew what they meant - by Wilbur, by Fundy, by Schlatt.

She has no real _problems_ with them. The choices they made were choices she likely would’ve as well, eventually. In the end, Niki loves her friends first and foremost - if they need the reassurance that she is there, that she will be there, then they have it. 

“So, do you want to build a flower shop, a cottage, or a coffee shop?” Puffy asks, smiling like just Niki’s presence is enough to light up her world. 

Niki looks at her, thinks, _I want to bend nature to my will and weave tapestries in your name_ , says, “I think I might like the flower shop best.”

They get to building, fending off ‘friendly’ rivalry from Tommy and Ranboo - Niki loves them with her whole heart, she does, but nowadays it seems like most anything Tommy does has an undertone of feral violence to it. She doesn’t think too hard on it, because Puffy is by her side the whole time, grinning and letting her take the lead. 

_I am going to choose you,_ Niki thinks, watching Puffy watch their first customers arrive at the shop they built together. Dream buys flowers for Fundy and passes her money beneath the table for someone else, and she laughs a little and hands him his extra flowers because as powerful as he is, he does not have this. He has not chosen his love, cannot choose to have what he wants.

Niki, for once, can.

“If it comes to war,” Puffy whispers to her one night, eyes lit up by the stars. They’re laying on the grass by the path together, the place they had their first date. “If it comes to war, what happens to us?”

Niki wriggles closer, and Puffy smiles and drags a hand through her blonde hair. “You look cute in my jacket,” she says, like changing the subject, looking down towards Niki fondly. Niki preens, because she _does,_ wrapped in rainbow fuzz.

“Thank you,” she says, proudly. Puffy had offered it to her when they met up, said _you don’t have to take it, but it looks like it might get cold._ Niki knows she planned it, that she was probably hoping against hope Niki would take it, because she had a second jacket slung on her arm.

Niki had taken it and put it on and laughed at the way Puffy stared at her. Love, adoration, devotion. _I love you._

“If it comes to war,” Niki says, after another few minutes of silence, “I won’t fight you.”

“But you won’t fight for Eret, and you won’t fight for Dream,” Puffy says, quiet and concerned. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I just won’t fight, then,” Niki says decisively. “I’ll run away to a little cottage in the woods, and I’ll come in the night and spirit you away, and we’ll grow flowers and pumpkins and ignore everyone else being busy with silly things like war.”

Puffy laughs, and rolls over to look at Niki. “You’re incredible. I’m so glad you chose me.”

“And you chose me,” Niki reminds her, fondly. “It’s a mutual choosing. By the way, you’re also incredible.”

 _I will choose this life for myself,_ Niki thinks, watching Puffy laugh and laugh and laugh. It makes her heart swell dangerously, and a smile comes unbidden to her own lips. _I love you, and you love me, and together we will be the heroes of our own storybooks. We will be enough._

Niki arrived in this land at an inopportune time; but it’s alright, because the choices she didn’t make have led her up to this moment, where she makes the most important choice of all, where she has chosen this.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah i very carefully made this 666 words when i realized i was coming up on that number LOL
> 
> stay safe everyone!! comments and kudos much appreciated


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